Anandshala

Stay. Engage. Learn. 

The Anandshala program helps make schools joyful learning spaces by enabling students and teachers to think and express themselves freely.

About

Our Program

Operating in Bihar and Jharkhand, the Anandshala program works to build stronger relationships between teachers, students and parents to make schools joyful learning spaces that motivate students to stay in school. It reaches out to out-of-school adolescents through local youth clubs, and attempts to create a responsive education system through advocacy and capacity-building. It uses data as a critical tool to create a more responsive education system and drives advocacy. It has resulted in higher attendance, deeper engagement, learning for life, more trust and stronger relationships between the government, its schools and the community.

Our Goals

Since 2012 Anandshala has focused on improving the way that government policies, which deliver quality education, are implemented in Indian schools. The program is a result of learning from a 3-year pilot project, which has been scaled to a district-wide strategy and implemented across 996 schools.

  • Students attend school regularly, engage more fully in school-related activities and improve their language and communication skills.
  • Teachers become Change Leaders, armed with the knowledge, skills and attitudes to foster a student-friendly environment and bring in positive teacher-student relationships in schools.
  • There is a more responsive system at the school and district level that supports all educationists to perform their roles and responsibilities effectively.

Our Strategy

Anandshala works with the school system to ensure that every child stays, engages and learns in school.

It provides teachers with tools and strategies to objectively understand students, creates a learning environment conducive to creative thought and free expression, and encourages stronger relationships between the parent, teacher and child.

  • Develop Change Leaders: Master trainers created at the Government level ensure the dissemination of the Anandshala approach at the school level. Teachers use this knowledge, skill and attitude to ensure a student-friendly environment and positive relationships in schools.
  • Share Good Practices: A platform for teachers and schools to share good practices, get recognized through awards, and encourage wide-scale adoption of those good practices.
  • Harness Technology: With the effective use of data, teachers understand and support learners and each other comprehensively. Technology is used extensively to support Change Leaders by building capacity.
  • Build a Responsive System: Advocacy works towards an integrated education system connecting different stakeholders from the school level to the district level, built around the idea of joyful learning environments.

In building relationships between teachers and students, we understand that a teacher can motivate students with curiosity, imagination and a desire to learn.

Our Approach

Anandshala’s approach to creating joyful learning spaces includes:

Enrichment program

Build student leadership and enhance student participation in school activities. It uses innovative strategies, activities and tools like movement, the arts and stories to encourage students to develop language skills, think and express freely and actively interact with the community.

Early warning system

Data-based system to support teachers identify at-risk students, prioritize attention and track progress of students who are not attending, engaging and learning in school.

Parent engagement

Engage parents in their
child’s learning process and create space for a mutual dialogue between the school and the parents.

Develop change leaders

Creating a cadre of master trainers from headmasters, teachers and student leaders.

Impact

  • 465,000 Children Reached
  • 40 Change Leaders
  • 996 Schools Impacted
  • 200 Model Schools
  • 9% Improved Attendance

Partnership

Quest Alliance brings over a decade of experience in designing toolkits and training programs to enable joyful learning in schools in India and beyond. Partner with us:

For Funding

If you want to support large-scale education programs with quality learning outcomes, these are just some of the benefits of collaborating with us:

Transparency

  • End-to-end project management and support by our experienced team of professionals
  • Data-driven reporting and analytics dashboards to view impact and project outcomes

Expertise

  • Experiential knowledge in technology, design, media and content to formulate unique offerings for joyful learning in partnership with you
  • Adding sustainability, scale and stability by working closely with the Government system

Leverage

  • Cross-donor leverage across different Quest funding partners

For Outreach

If you are an NGO working with schools or State education functionaries and you want to enhance student engagement, find enrichment activities and parent-engagement strategies, we share:

Knowledge and Skills

  • Best practices of a more responsive system especially via education functionaries
  • Methods to improve systems of students’ data management at the school level

Tools

  • Access to ready-to-use toolkits and training support to integrate different aspects of the program
  • Tools for capacity-building and the ongoing support of teachers and education functionaries as Change Leaders

“Anandshala is doing a lot of capacity building at the Block and District levels, leading the district towards quality education for all our children.”


Read their stories


Ajay Jha
Program Officer, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, BEPC

“The children who used to run away from studies and classes now come to school on time and stay. They want to stay because they feel happy.”



Mohammed Naseemuddin
Community Leader

“Earlier, my son used to think studying was a bore and did it because he had to. Since Anandshala, he wants to study, do well, and become someone.”



Mamta Kumari
Parent

Media Coverage

Community Volunteers Ensure Children’s Attendance in School: Lessons from Anandshala
The Oracle-Anandshala Project Forges Ahead to Integrate Technology in Bihar Govt. Schools

Partners

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